Some time during last year I read Jeffrey Sachs’ book The End of Poverty. Finland does not meet the official goal (0.7% of gross national product) for development aid – very few countries do, I think Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg and Netherlands are the only ones.
Since I am fairly well-to-do at the moment, I decided to try to use 0.7% of my personal gross income for charitable purposes. I made practical donations via a couple of Finnish charity groups. What did I get? I bought a cow, chickens, school supplies, light, saplings, a goat, pigs, medical services and AIDS work for developing countries. I mean to do this again in 2007.
May 15, 2007, 06:22AM PDT | 3 cheers | 2 comments
Indigo Girls were playing on February 15 at Shepherds Bush Empire. My preordered tickets never showed up (I still need to make a complaint, since my card has been charged), but tickets were luckily available at the door, and we got in.
The band played a pretty long set, quite a few songs from the latest album, but also the older stuff and some of my all-time favourites. The most memorable performance for me was Chickenman mixed with Bitterroot. The audience also sang along really well in Closer to Fine. I will try to configure my travel calendar to give me another opportunity to hear Indigo Girls live.
Feb 19, 2007, 02:31PM PST | 0 comments
I’ve donated blood regularly and platelets once. I was planning to go donate blood soonish, but got an SMS invitation to go donate plasma instead, so I phoned the blood service place and agreed to go there this Monday morning.
Plasma donation takes a bit longer (since the blood components are separated), and the location in Helsinki (Kivihaka) is not quite as good (blood can be donated in city centre, on Yrjönkatu), but the extra trouble is not that bad. I think I’ll try to donate plasma every now and then in the future.
Jan 29, 2007, 03:46AM PST | 0 comments
I'm doing 33 things
